10 Ultimate To Do Before Opening A New Restaurant
Starting a new restaurant requires a lot of planning as it is a vast market. Moreover, the restaurant business is a very rewarding venture if you plan everything right. If you are new to the restaurant business, you might find it challenging as you need to deal with large start-up costs at the beginning of your restaurant. But, once you get through the challenges, the business is very much rewarding and fruitful.
However, if you are determined to start a restaurant, then it’s important to have an opening a restaurant checklist. Here is the list of things to do before opening a restaurant, to make your restaurant business profitable and well-established.
Steps To Opening A Restaurant
Opening a restaurant is tedious yet exciting. Moreover, careful planning is key to streamlining your restaurant opening process. To do so, it’s essential to keep an opening a restaurant checklist ready and work accordingly. In addition, the list of things to do before opening a restaurant are:-
1. Develop A Restaurant Concept
To start a restaurant business, the first and foremost thing to do is develop a concept for your new restaurant. Moreover, there are different types of restaurants with different functions. Thus, to move forward with the preparation and shaping of the foundation, it’s important to finalize a restaurant concept. To finalize the restaurant concept, here are a few points you need to consider:-
- Type Of Service You Will Provide
It’s important to decide the type of restaurant you want to start. Whether you want a cloud kitchen, a full dining restaurant, or a quick service restaurant. Every type of business has its preparation checklist.
- Type Of Business Model
Once you decide on the type of service for your restaurant, you need to think about whether you want an independent restaurant model or want to choose a franchise restaurant model.
- Market Research And Analysis
Market research is important to understand which geographical area would be better for your restaurant. Moreover, it’s important to research and analyze your competitors to make your restaurant unique.
2. Create A Business Plan
Planning your business is crucial as it carves the path to start your business. Moreover, having a strong business plan with a vision of goals, and how you are going to achieve your goals helps to get investors and partners for your business. In addition, the strong business plan includes a business overview, restaurant industry and finance analysis, SWOT analysis, and operational and marketing plans. Thus, once you create a business plan, then success is highly guaranteed.
3. Plan Your Finances
Opening a restaurant is not easy for the pocket, it will cost you much. Thus, it’s important to secure and plan the finances that are needed to start the restaurant. Moreover, it’s important to understand the specific expenses and costs you need to start the restaurant. If you are planning to open a franchise restaurant or independent, you will approximately need a minimum amount of Rs 90,000 to 1 lakh to start a restaurant business. However, if you are new to the restaurant business, and looking for funding to start a restaurant, then there are many finance options. It includes:-
- Grants or subsidy
- Crowdfunding
- Line of credit
- Borrow from family, friends, and relatives
- Equipment and technology loans
- Working capital loans
Moreover, if you are raising funds, you must have a clear plan to repay along with an income and expenditure roadmap for your business. However, bank loan approval time takes a little longer duration, and you need to self-finance 50% of your total estimated budget.
4. Choose The Right Location
Location plays an important role in the success of any restaurant business. Moreover, to choose the right location, you need to keep in mind the demographics, traffic flow, market competition in your niche, and target audience. In addition, your location should fulfill the requirements of the size and space needed to start your restaurant business. If you want to choose the right location, you need to consider a few things.
- Your location should be an inaccessible location with adequate traffic flow
- You must check the market condition in that area with the target audience
- It should match your restaurant business concept.
- There should be adequate parking space.
5. Necessary License And Documentation
To start your restaurant business and run it smoothly, it’s necessary to go through all the license and documentation processes. Moreover, to get government approval for any restaurant startup, there is a need for paperwork, money, and little time. There are many licenses and permits you need to open a restaurant. However, it depends on the type of restaurant you are going to start and the city your restaurant resides in. The required licenses are:-
- Employer identification number (EIN)
- Shop and Establishment Act
- Health and trade license
- Eating house license
- GST registration
- Fire safety license
- No objection certificate
- FSSAI license
6. Restaurant Design And Interiors
Once you have the perfect location and all required licenses, the other important thing in opening a restaurant checklist is designing a restaurant, both interior and exterior. Moreover, consult with an experienced engineer who will design your restaurant as per your business concept, market demand, and your brand image.
In addition, aesthetics is crucial as it attracts a large customer base, thus plan your restaurant interiors with the best designers. Once, you get through the planning and designing, estimate the cost and start your restaurant construction process. In addition, design your restaurant uniquely and engagingly attracting customers, and enhancing productivity and profitability.
7. Menu Engineering
The menu will represent your restaurant concept and play a crucial role in making your business profitable. Moreover, your menu should display your restaurant concept, so it’s beneficial to have a well-constructed menu. Keep the pricing of your menu such that it gives you profit even with low-cost food. In addition, make your menu attractive with eye-pleasing fonts and colors. Thus, it takes a lot of effort to craft a unique and attractive menu i.e. selecting meals, pricing, placement of menu items, and overall look.
8. Hiring And Training Of Staff
Staff interact with your customers building the brand image. Thus, it’s important to have the best staff and make them well-trained. Moreover, hire a professional chef who understands your business concept and makes dishes accordingly. It’s important to choose the chef wisely as food is the make or break of any restaurant business. In addition, train your staff to have great communication skills and deal with every customer properly.
9. Get High-Quality Equipment And A Pos System
Equipping your restaurant kitchen with high-quality kitchen equipment is necessary as it enhances productivity and customer experience. Moreover, investing in equipment is a one-time investment, thus you should have the best kitchen equipment that is reliable, durable, and advanced. Buy all the equipment that is necessary to make everything on your menu.
However, if you are struggling with the budget, you can even invest in used kitchen equipment.
In addition, make your restaurant smart with a high-quality and reliable POS system. POS system is the advancement that helps to make your restaurant more productive as it comes with distinct features such as inventory management, accounting, data management, order tracking, and many more.
There are numerous sellers, so choose the best equipment and POS system at an affordable price range.
10. Market Your Restaurant Business
Marketing is a key aspect of the success of your restaurant business. Moreover, you must have an effective marketing strategy that attracts your target audience. There are multiple marketing strategies you must follow to make your restaurant a great success.
- It’s beneficial to have marketing in both offline and offline ways.
- Create a social media handle for your restaurant on various platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- Showcase your restaurant on your social media page, and upload videos of your restaurant in both day and night light along with the menu.
- Offer discounts, benefits, promo codes, and gift cards to increase the customer flow.
- Print your social media handle QR scanner on the packaging to make a large customer base reach the social media handle.
- Distribute pamphlets and display hoardings showcasing the opening of restaurants to catch the attention of your target audience in the locality.
- If you have a budget, display ads on social media platforms to get more customers.
- Promote your restaurant by inviting local influencers on the opening day
- Provide various offers, discounts, and bonuses for the first few customers on the opening day of your restaurant business.
Conclusion
The restaurant business is the fastest growing business in India where everyone is interested in investing, leaving their 9 to 5 jobs. Moreover, starting a restaurant is exciting and tough, requiring a lot of effort in the right direction. Looking at the competitive food industry, it’s necessary to have proper planning and execution of your restaurant. You need a proper opening a restaurant checklist to make your efforts and investment worthy.
However, if you are confused about how to start your restaurant business, then here is a list of things to do before opening a restaurant to guide you through your restaurant development from start to end. Thus, follow the steps to opening a restaurant, and effortlessly start your business.
